Gary Mekikian
Mekikian in 2015
Born	Garo Mekikian Yerevan , Armenia
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Stanford University University of Southern California
Occupation(s)	CEO of M&M Media, Inc.
Years active	1993 ? present
Known for	Technology and software entrepreneurship
Board member of	Chairman, M&M Media, Inc., Stanford Graduate School of Business MSx Program
Website	la2dc .org

Gary Mekikian is an American businewsman who is the co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of M&M Media Inc, a Los Angeles?based media technology company. Prior to M&M Media, Mekikian co-founded International Integration, also known as i-Cube; answerfriend, which became Inquira; and GATeIC.

Mekikian is a co-organizer of LA2DC.org, a Los Angeles?based organization whose mission is to raise awareness of modern-day genocides and the Holocaust, and to eliminate genocide as a war tactic.

Mekikian has a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California and an MS from Stanford University , and he holds patents in media technologies ^{[1] [2]} and medical devices. ^[3] Mekikian is a member of Stanford University's Graduate School of Business MSx Alumni Advisory Board. He collaborates with Stanford University professors Dr. William Barnett ^[4] and Dr. John Roberts to write and teach case studies on entrepreneurship, information technology, semiconductor industry, and the mobile internet.

Education [ edit ]

After attending Hollywood High School for two years, Mekikian earned an electrical engineering degree from University of Southern California and an MS from Stanford University .

Career [ edit ]

Early ventures [ edit ]

In 1993, after working at Hewlett-Packard Company as a sales engineer, Mekikian joined the founding team at International Integration Inc., also known as i-Cube, which went public in 1998. ^[5] i-Cube was acquired by Razorfish, Inc. in 1999. ^[6]

Mekikian began working with Dr. Deniz Yuret, a researcher in Natural Language Processing at Massachusetts Institute of Technology , and Sundar Subramaniam, a co-founder of i-Cube, to found answerFriend, Inc., which developed commercialized web based question-answering technologies. ^{[7] [8]} In 2002, answerFriend merged with another natural language processing technology company, Electric Knowledge, to form InQuira. In 2011, Oracle Corporation acquired Inquira. ^[9]

In 2006, Mekikian co-founded GATeIC ^[10] a semiconductor IP company.

M&M Media / TREBEL Music [ edit ]

In 2014, after a patent was issued on a new method of delivering and monetizing digital media on mobile and desktop devices, ^[1] Mekikian co-founded M&M Media, Inc., ^[11] a digital music distribution company that released the TREBEL Music app to reduce digital media piracy by specifically targeting a demographic which uses piracy as a form of digital media consumption. ^{[12] [13]}

TREBEL Music operates in Indonesia, Mexico, Colombia, ^[14] and the US, and its investors include fashion mogul, Chris Burch , global pop star Maluma , ^{[15] [16]} NBA basketball star, Thaddeus Young , ^[17] soccer star Memo Ochoa , ^{[18] [19]} and Indonesian media mogul, Hary Tanoesoedibjo . ^[20]

Genocide Awareness and Prevention [ edit ]

In 2015, the descendants of the survivors of the Armenian genocide commemorated the 100th anniversary of the first genocide of the 20th century around the world. ^[21] Mekikian, along with a group of Armenian Americans , organized an event which was titled LA2DC, ^[22] a coast-to-coast, running and cycling, relay marathon. The purpose of the event is to increase awareness of modern-day genocides , and prevent genocides from being used as a war tactic. Over a thousand athletes ran and cycled non-stop, from Los Angeles to Washington DC, to deliver a petition to Congress - a message of gratitude to Americans and others who worked to prevent genocides, and rescued the survivors. Mekikian and colleagues authored the petition ^[23] which was delivered in a relay baton to Congressman Adam Schiff who read it on the floor of the House of Representatives on May 20, 2015. ^[24]

Bibliography [ edit ]

• Prof. William Barnett and Gary Mekikian, (2013) Mercado Libre, Leadership and Managing People, Stanford Graduate School of Business ^[25]
• Gary Mekikian and Prof. John Roberts , (2009) Note on IT Services Industry, Economics, Stanford Graduate School of Business ^[26]
• Gary Mekikian and Prof. John Roberts , (2009) Tata Consultancy Services, Globalization of IT Services, Economics, ^[27]
• Prof. William Barnett and Gary Mekikian, (2008) Creating Qualcomm, Organizational Behavior, Entrepreneurship, Stanford Graduate School of Business ^[28]

References [ edit ]